Song of the Day: Townes Van Zandt – “All I Need.”

Check Out A Never Before Heard Song From The Legendary Texas Singer-Songwriter, From a New Collection of Rarities To Be Released On His 75th Birthday.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Townes Van Zandt – “All I Need.”RIYL: Buried treasures.What else you should know: Forty-six years after they were first created, a collection of new material from Fort Worth son Townes Van Zandt has been unearthed and, with blessing from his family and executors of the legendary songwriter’s estate, it’ll be released as a new LP called Sky Blue via TVZ Records and Fat Possum. It’s scheduled for release on March 7, on what would have been his 75th birthday.

The unreleased material includes some early versions of classics like “Pancho and Lefty” and “Rex’s Blues,” giving a glimpse into the master’s processes. There’s also some covers of songs by Richard Dobson and Tom Paxton. But the biggest cause for excitement is two previously unheard originals, the title track, and “All I Need,” which you can hear below.

The tunes were recorded at the Atlanta home studio of his journalist/musician pal William Hedgepeth in 1973, during his songwriting prime.

Cory Graves is the Associate Editor at Central Track. He enjoys not only writing about Dallas and its local music scene, but being a part of it as a member of the band Vandoliers. Courtney Love once referred to him onstage as “my fucking therapist,” which he immediately put on his resume.